Things Got a Little Messi in the Bronx

On Saturday, Yankee Stadium looked like a gender reveal party as around 50,000 fans, some dressed in home sky blue and others dressed in pink, packed in to see the game between New York City Football Club and Inter Miami. The big reason many fans were there was a diminutive Argentine player who is arguably the best who ever played the game.  Lionel Messi took the pitch to cheers from all around, and New York City managed to keep him at bay for most of the game.

A draw felt like a just result on Saturday as New York City rebounded from a stunning defeat midweek and out played Inter Miami for most of the game.  The Midfield of James Sands and Keaton Parks combined with Kevin O’toole kept Messi from getting any real vital touches on the ball in and around the box.  Even Santiago Rodriguez was dropping back and stripping him of the ball at times.  This kept Inter Miami from getting into a rhythm and neutralized them for most of the match.

Nick Cushing spoke about the atmosphere after the match. “I hope they enjoyed the game. I hope we played attacking football. I hope they see the level of the league [MLS] is exciting. These were two teams that were both attacking each other in an end-to-end game. I was proud that we created many chances in the game and the one thing I will say is our supporter’s section and every New York City [FC] fan that came out tonight pushed us right to the end. They supported us throughout the game. They really gave us life and energy. When the shouts came for the opposition, I love that our fans sang over it. It was a really proud moment because I’ve seen it different in other stadiums where you go away and you can hear the opposition’s players names being sung and the [Lionel] Messi shouts ringing around the stadium. They started off in the first half and I could hear the New York fans sing over it. I love that. That tells me that we have a real heartbeat, a real soul in our football club, and I think that is what will be the inspiration for the moment to give our season a kickstart, seeing all the New York fans come out and really be behind us and have a desire. One thing I will say, and I hope you guys can print this and make sure I fancy it, I loved the tifo. The tifo was something that really gave me a spirit before the game”.

The crowd was electric at Yankee Stadium especially the supporter’s section seen here. Photo: Kai Kanzer

In the 75th minute however, Jordi Alba found Leonardo Campana with a deft pass in the box and Campana slotted it home to give the visitors the lead.  The whole play had been created of a nice ball from Messi in the midfield.

New York City would not back down though and fought back though and stayed in the game with Nick Cushing using his whole allotment of subs to try and find the equalized and salvage a point. The hard work was rewarded in the waning seconds of the match as James Sands headed home a corner  past Drake Calendar and ties the game. The crowd went wild and what a time for Sands to score his first ever MLS goal.

“It’s really important for us and he should be really proud. He’s a Homegrown [player]. He is our player. He is somebody that, this year, he’s really shown his quality. If you look at data and the statistics of his game, he wins the most tackles, the most duels and he regains the most balls in MLS and that is a huge thing to have on your team…. He is a top player. He is New Yorker through and through. Sometimes these moments are written, for James Sands, to score the equalizer against [Inter] Miami [CF]. It’s a really good moment for us but it’s also an opportunity for us, ” Cushing added.

One of the many dust ups during the match. Photo: Kai Kanzer

The day was something ew York City could build on but it also got very wilely at times with several yellow cards and even one red given to the Inter Miami bench.  Santiago Rodriguez will have to miss next week’s Hudson River Derby because of the dust ups.